James Robertson, Tessa van der Riet

The Indonesian government has been forced to defend its decision to grant Schapelle Corby parole in the face of accusations of hypocrisy and special treatment.

Indonesian interest in the Corby case began to slowly catch up to Australia’s after news of her release was made official. And it has exposed a massive gap with Australian sentiment, where an overwhelming majority of people believe she has served enough time in prison.

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Bali locals react to Schapelle's parole

From locals who have met Schapelle's brother Michael Jnr, to others who know Corby's story but say they don't care, we hit the Bali streets to discuss the Kerobokan prisoner's imminent release.

“We deserve an honest explanation: was this purely a legal decision, or is this pay-off for Australia?” asked the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Priyo Budi Santoso, from the opposition Golkar party.

Many observers suspected Corby would never receive parole, as the issue of granting clemency to a drug smuggler was too politically charged an issue for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who had talked tough on narcotics.

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Now that the government, in the twilight of the Susilo presidency and in an election year, has made the move it has incited a wave of opposition.

“Government policy is favouring the drug mafia, including Corby,” said a member of the parliament and its legal affairs committee, Ahmad Yani, from the minority Islamic PPP party, who also said Corby deserved the death penalty.

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Several other members of that parliamentary committee have said they intend to invoke their powers of inquiry to force the government to provide an official explanation for Corby’s release.

It is now clear why. Mr Yudhoyono's conservative political opponents have gained some traction from the case, which they say makes a mockery of the President’s campaigns for a drug-free Indonesia by 2015.

The government says it only granted Corby’s parole because she had met objective conditions, but opponents claim the government enabled the move with a generous presidential clemency order in 2012 that shaved five years off her sentence.

Accusations of hypocrisy and special treatment: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Photo: AP

“The government only dares to be tough on its own citizens” said Al Muzzammil Yusuf, a leading politician from the Islamic PKS party, which controls about 10 per cent of seats in the Indonesian lower house.

At a time when public hostility toward Australia is at a peak after revelations of wiretapping, the government will not relish being forced to deny stories that the Corby release was a diplomatic bargain.

But despite making the front page of several Saturday newspapers outside Bali the story of the “pretty Corby” has not obsessed Indonesia as it has Australia.

Many Balinese locals, such as Anto Shiotang, a bamboo artisan from central Kuta are broadly sympathetic about Corby.

"I believe she's guilty,” he said. “[But] if she is released it's a good thing because she's been in there for quite some time."

But even in central Kuta, among Indonesia’s most progressive areas, you do not have to go far to find the opposite view.

Victor, who works in a craft store in central Kuta, likened drug smuggling to terrorism or genocide.